Kyrie Irving Mikan Drill With 12 Variations!

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As Coach Jim Huber mentioned in the video, this is a great way to improve your finishing and feel around the basket. In fact, this is what Kyrie Irving practices to develop his feel around the basket.

It's a great way to get a lot of shots up in a short amount of time.

Here are the 12 variations that Coach Huber explained in the video.


One Leg Finishes

The first four were one leg finishes. You start in front of the hoop with your chest facing the baseline.

1: Inside Foot, Outside Hand

2: Inside Foot, Inside Hand

3: Outside Foot, Outside Hand

4: Outside Foot, Inside Hand


One Leg Reverse Finishes

The next four were one leg reverse finishes. You start underneath the hoop with your back facing the baseline.

5: Reverse - Inside Foot, Outside Hand

6: Reverse - Inside Foot, Inside Hand

7: Reverse - Outside Foot, Outside Hand

8: Reverse - Outside Foot, Inside Hand


Two Feet Finishes

The next two were finishes off two feet. You start in front of the hoop with your chest facing the baseline.

9: Two Feet - Outside Hand

10: Two Feet - Inside Hand


Two Feet Reverse Finishes

The next two were reverse finishes off of two feet. You start underneath the hoop with your back facing the baseline.

11: Two Feet Reverse - Outside Hand

12: Two Feet Reverse - Inside Hand



The 13th Variation - Change Your Finishes

When you get better at these finishes, a great way to practice is to add variability. That means you change your finish on every shot.

You rarely take the same shot twice in a row during a game so it's productive to practice that way as well.



Add Spinology To Your Finishes!

Once you perfect the drills above, here are a couple of ways to add more difficulty to take your finishing to the next level.

You use the drills above, but you alter the spin on the basketball.

That way, you can see how different spins will react off the backboard. Putting the right kind of spin on the ball will enable you to finish from positions that you could not before.

It's almost like adding an extra foot or two of length to your arm. That way, you can extend and finish from different positions.

You can also change the arc on the basketball. At times, you want to minimize the arc to beat a shot blocker to the backboard. Other times, you want to put more arc on the ball to get the ball over a shot blocker.

By altering the spin and changing the arc, it can elevate your finishing skills to another level.



Basketball Camps To Improve Your Finishing And Other Skills

If you want to improve your finishing and make more lay ups, check out the camps below. Additionally, you improve shooting, ball handling, and more. There are over 200 camps across North America.

Essential Youth Skills & Decision Making - This is geared towards youth and middle school players entering grades 4 to 9.

Shooting, Ball Handling, & Finishing Camps - This is all about improving individual offense and is for players entering grades 5 to 12.

Elite Guard Camp - This is geared towards high school players and advanced middle school players.



What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...




Comments

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cladder says:
9/6/2022 at 4:39:06 AM

Useful. Video tutorials help me practice much better.

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  1 reply  

Barb says:
9/6/2022 at 7:32:43 AM

Glad to hear, thank you for the feedback.

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glenn magrane says:
5/4/2021 at 5:08:43 PM

fantastic

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Paul Eckerman says:
3/22/2020 at 10:20:00 PM

Thanks for your help but whos Joe?

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Paul Krick says:
3/2/2018 at 12:21:35 PM

Some other elements I add to the mikan drills are shooting a perfect shot off the glass (all net with no rim), then I add all net with no rim or back board. I also have players pump fake, step thru, double jump put backs and finally the superman drill, started outside of the lane, throwing the ball off the glass and catching it outside the lane on the other side and scoring. When we do this drill with partners we combine scores for winners to make it competitive.

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  1 person liked this.  

Virginia Malone says:
2/28/2018 at 12:02:07 PM

I could not get the video to play.

Like
  1 reply  

Joe Haefner says:
2/28/2018 at 2:06:52 PM

Here is a link to a youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaLql0ueNpY

Let me know if this works.

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